Easy really: just requires a 100 mile cycle ride followed by a short ascent (actually 4,300 ft ascent in total). Called in to visit Roger MW0IDX (and family) on the way - that was nice.
Enjoyable activation in the sun. HB1B, SB-EFHW 20m on Mini Pole. Decided against the Antron and scaffold poles this time.
I was pleased with 15mph average. Getting up at 04:30 for carbo-loading and setting off at 05:30 was the hardest part. The worst bits were cycling along the North Wales Express Way for a few miles by mistake (oh dear that was really really horrible) and hitting a patch of deep sand at 19 mph on the North Wales Cycleway - nearly a wipe-out.
Concluded that I really don’t like the cycling from Chester to Prestatyn. The remainder of the journey was quite passable.
You are inspiring me to give it a try, combines two of my favourite things!
Sue and I will activate on the tandem, in fact… might be able to do it sometime during the week commencing 24th May while we are on the tandem club national rally, which is based in Bangor in North Wales (GW). A few SOTA people are at the rally actually.
Know what you mean about that bit between Chester to Prestatyn, tricky to find a nice route.
It is great fun. However there are relatively few hills in cycling range of my home that are suitable for such an approach; Great Orme and Winter Hill are two obvious candidates. Gun is possible but requires pushing the bike across the moor. The Cloud is tricky unless you leave the bike and do the final part on foot. Of course, you could also adopt a multi-modal approach and use a car/train for part of the journey.
The logistics of combining the two very different activities make for an interesting challenge too. Lots to think about.
Getting up at 04:30 for carbo-loading … was the hardest part.
Depends on how old the food was Richard. If you are still on the 30 year old variety that you have apparently developed a taste for, it must have been difficult.
